The
vast majority of these cases are based on true events… The short story ‘Gone Missing’ was first
published in magazine format in 2011: here is a very brief excerpt:
Gone Missing
Pavel’s best defence was extreme halitosis…
Miguel García
Hernandez had been missing a week by the time his wife, Beatriz, got in touch
with me. He’d walked out of his apartment in Edificio Donna Ximena, saying
that, on his way to work, he was going to drop into the loteria shop to claim
his euro reintegro from La Primitiva.
José on the
lotto desk knew Miguel as a regular and was adamant that he had not come in
that day. Miguel was supposed to go to the La Mata villa of Señor Rafael
Morales, to fit a wooden carport in his drive. A three-day job, he’d estimated,
but he never arrived.
Beatriz feared
something terrible had happened to her dear Miguel and it showed in her
sleep-deprived, dark brown eyes and unkempt dyed-black hair. She was in her
mid-forties, but seemed older since the clear complexion of her chubby cheeks
was mottled after she had dried too many tears.
She’d been quite
a catch. Her family had worked in the salt industry since the 1820s. Salt was
another word for money in Torrevieja. Beatriz thought that Miguel was the salt
of the earth, and she should know. In the middle of last century, Torrevieja
was a small fishing village on the southeast coast of Spain that also thrived
on “white gold”, salt production. Today, Torrevieja exports a million tonnes
annually. Twenty years ago, its population was about 20,000. Now it’s a
sizeable city with in excess of 100,000 residents, over half non-Spanish.
*
There is a glossary explaining terms such as 'reintegro' and La Primitiva'...
As
can be seen in this clipping from The
Coastrider dated July 2007, Torrevieja town has grown over the years – the
fastest growing town in Spain, in fact. The numbers have fluctuated since then,
but even taking into account the financial crisis of 2008, which meant many
hundreds of expats returned to their native countries, the numbers have still increased
– in 2012 there were 107,009. Estimates may vary, but when the tourists are
added to the number, there are never less than 320,000 inhabitants.
Spanish Eye paperback may be purchased post-free worldwide from here
Kindle UK here
Kindle Amazon com here
